The public service Slovak Television, which has been without a director since last December, finally has a new director general, the SITA newswire wrote.
In the second round of the election, the STV Council decided that Štefan Nižnánsky, a former anchor of the socialist Czechoslovak Television, would lead the network. He won 10 votes in a secret ballot. Three members of the STV Council raised their hands in favour of Jozef Mračna, and the third candidate, Vladimír Repčík, was left without any vote. The council has 15 members, of which 13 took part in the vote.
The STV Council fired the previous director general, Radim Hreha, on December 11. The council members criticised Hreha for not fulfilling his legal duties. He, among other things, allegedly failed to present several strategic materials, and is supposedly responsible for deepening the economic and programming debt at STV.
As STV director general, Radim Hreha also faced accusations of yielding to political pressure.
The ruling coalition elected its people to councils of the STV and the Slovak Radio in a secret ballot in parliament held in early February. PM Robert Fico stated already in December that the ruling coalition was interested in those people who "would represent our opinions" being elected to public service media councils. STV Council waited with the vote until membership expired for its members elected by the previous parliament. SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
